The present invention relates to a camcorder having a still camera integrally formed therein, and more particularly to a camcorder integrally incorporating a still camera in which a camcorder portion using a magnetic tape as the recording medium and a still camera portion using a photographic film as the recording medium are integrally formed in one body, and a distance measuring device of the camera controls the focus of the camcorder and vice versa.
A camcorder for magnetically recording a moving picture on a magnetic tape and a still camera for forming a still picture by exposing a photographic film to light reflected from an object have each been developed as separate apparatuses. In order to record an object magnetically and photographically using both the camcorder and the still camera, one must bear the inconvenience of having to carry both the camcorder and the still camera for the duration of the photographing/recording period. Also, the camcorder must be paused or stopped in order to take a picture using the still camera.
To alleviate the above inconveniences, a camcorder in which a still camera is integrally formed has been developed. However, there are several problems due to the lenses of the still camera and the camcorder being separated and working independently. First, due to the difference in the view of an object as seen through the picture-taking lens of the still camera and the view as seen through a separate viewfinder or monitor of the camcorder, parallax occurs. Thus, when photographing an object using the still camera while viewing an object displayed on a monitor focused by the camcorder, or recording the object using the camcorder while viewing the object through an optical viewfinder focused by the a still camera, there is a conflict of focus. Also, assuming that the objects recorded by the camcorder is displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD) installed at the rear side, it is difficult to determine the viewing angle of the still camera when viewing the LCD in order to focus on the same object since the automatic focus (AF) devices for the camcorder and the still camera work independently. Another problem is that the AE device of the camcorder adopts an algorithm for maximizing a high frequency component of a picture signal. Therefore, it is difficult to focus when the picture signal is weak, for example, when an object to be photographed is dark or when there is little or no contrast (ratio of lightness to darkness) between the object and the background. Furthermore, since the AF device of the camcorder has a long time constant, it is impossible to measure distance in the near instant time span of illumination during flash photography. Especially, when intending to store a picture in a picture memory with the picture being captured by the camcorder using the flash in dark situations, it is impossible to focus on the object by operating the AF device of the camcorder prior to the illumination by the flash.